Messed around by a cash flow lender? Delays, moving goalposts and last-minute cuts

Cash flow lenders assess recent bank statements, so a file can be re-checked, resized or declined right up to funding as the account changes. HomeSec lends $20,000 to $5,000,000 against equity in real estate instead: an indicative answer usually on the first call, three documents to conditional approval, no valuation or bank statements, and a person deciding every loan.

If your application has dragged on, kept changing shape or fell over at the end, you are far from the only business owner in that position, and it is usually not about you. It comes from how cash flow lending works. HomeSec offers Australia's fastest and most flexible business loans, with up to 6 months no payments, and our assessment does not move with your bank balance.

What it usually looks like

• The answer keeps getting pushed back. Another day for credit, another day for a manager, another day for a re-check. Each delay may have its own reason; together they eat the time you had.
• The goalposts move. First it was three months of statements, then six. Then a BAS, then an explanation for one transaction, then something else.
• Approved, then declined. A conditional approval is often subject to a final check of the account before funding. If a fresh look at the statements shows a quiet week or a bounced debit, the approval can fall away.
• The amount shrinks at the last minute. A loan sized on recent deposits can be resized when the deposits are checked again, so the figure you planned around comes back smaller.
• The same documents, asked for again. Different people reviewing the file at different stages can mean the same request arrives more than once.

Why it happens with loans built on bank statements

A cash flow lender has no property to fall back on, so your recent trading is its security. That makes the bank account a moving target: every new week of transactions can change the picture, and a careful lender will look again before it pays out. Questions about individual transactions, extra months of statements and a final re-check are all ways of managing that. For a business with steady takings it is barely noticeable. For a business with lumpy income, it can mean a long and uncertain run to the finish.

None of that makes unsecured lending wrong. For a modest amount with steady trading and no property in the picture, it can be the right tool. It just is not built for certainty when the account is uneven.

A loan that does not move with your bank balance

A HomeSec loan is secured on real estate. We look at the property, the equity in it, the business purpose and how the loan is repaid, and we do not ask for bank statements, financials or a valuation. The equity in a property does not change between Monday and Friday the way an account balance does, which is what makes the process predictable.

From the call to the money

What to do in the next 24 hours

1. Decide on a cut-off. If your deadline is close, set a time by which the current application must be unconditional, and plan for the alternative now rather than then.
2. Keep a note of where things stand: what was approved, for how much, and what is still outstanding.
3. Gather the property details: address, rough value and what is owing on it. No valuation or statements needed.
4. Know your exit. A refinance, a sale or money that is coming. When a refinance pays out, it repays the HomeSec loan.
5. Call a Lending Manager on 1300 93 83 87 and get an indicative answer on the call.

If the application was declined outright rather than delayed, start with declined by a cash flow lender. If the hold-up is costing you money each day, what a slower loan is costing you puts a figure on it.